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Read Matthew's account and notice the references to the Old Testament, remembering that he was writing his Gospel to the Jew. Then, read Mark's account and notice the lack of reference to the Old Testament as he was writing to the Gentile. Read Luke's account and see how he accomplishes his purpose for writing, taking from the other accounts and talking to those who were still living that had heard the living Christ, and writing a more accurate and well rounded account for all people. We will be using primarily, Matthew's account.
The scripture begins with a account of the healing of a man possessed of demons. Here, again, we must go back to a previous side study that we made into demonology, Mark 1:23-34. So much reference is made to them in the Bible that we can hardly doubt their existence. Notice how much mental and physical illness was charged to demons. This particular man was deft and blind. Notice this condemned him. Why? He could not have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ nor could he have read it if it had been written. One of the functions of Satan is to seal the ears of the lost and the lips from prayers of repentance and confession. Only Christ can break the power of Satan over the lost and notice this is what He did here.
Notice what Jesus did here, He opened the eyes of this blind man by first opening his ears to God's word. This miracle influenced the opinions of those who had been following His ministry. First, we see from this account that "they were amazed" and secondly and more important, they were beginning to realize His true identity. "Is this not the Son of David?" Out of the linage of David would come the Promised Messiah. Thirdly, the Pharisees again misunderstood what He did and the way that He did it, they accused Him of blasphemy, of being in league with Beelzebub (Satan), the prince of demons. Certainly they could not deny that the man was healed, so they could only attack what they thought was the source of His power.
Matthew records Christ's answer to their charge. In His answer, Christ brings out four points.
So it would appear that out of envy and fear for their position as leaders that these Pharisees as well as most of the other religious leaders of that day, had decided to do what they could to discredit Him and if that did not work, they would certainly have to do away with Him.
Then Christ turns His attention to the Holy Spirit and the importance of this Third Person of the Trinity. We see mentioned, for the first time, the only unforgivable sin, that of rejecting Christ. Rejecting God's plan of salvation, His only plan of salvation. We are enlightened by the Holy Spirit and brought to the place where we must make a decision either for or against Christ. Acceptance is life eternal, rejection is unforgivable.
The He had some encouraging words, "All manner of sin shall be forgiven man, even words spoken against the "Son of man". Even those who persecuted Jesus, who crucified Him, who mocked Him but later when led of the Spirit, accepted Him, were forgiven. But, notice the "finality" of rejection of the conviction of the Holy Spirit, "It shall not be forgiven either in this world nor in the world to come." A staggering statement for those who do not believe in hell.
Then Jesus draws a parallel which is easy to understand especially by those of us who have ever tried to grow anything. There is a simple fact that is not debatable. "The fruit of the tree depends upon the condition of the tree." The fruit of the Christian depends upon the condition of the heart. Your heart is the tree, and the fruit is your words and deeds. Verse 34, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks."
Then Christ closed this train of thought by warning against "idle words". "For every idle word that a man speaks, he shall give account." Matthew Henry describes Idle words" as vain impertinent words that are not spoken for any good purpose, nor do they edify, foolish talk in jest (Eph. 5:4). It should concern us when we realize how much time will be taken up on Judgement Day accounting for these "idle words". We may find that a lifetime of speech will be "burnt up". Paul says in First Cor. 3:15, "If any man's work is burned that Day, he shall suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire."
We end this section of our study with what appears to be another group of Pharisees who also attempt to trap Him by asking for "a sign". Where had they been, had they not at least heard of the many miracles that He had done? But it is true that people that are "spiritually blind" cannot see the forest for the trees.
Notice that they pretend respect by calling Him Master. What kind of a sign did they ask for? Less we forget, Judaism was a religion of Miracles. Men of God in the past had proven themselves of God by miracles. Christ had done many miracles in the past, why did He deny their request? Because they were an evil and an adulterous generation. They had hardened their hearts , they had sought to discredit Him, they were seeking to trap Him and they had turned from the worship«p of God to the worship of worship.
He refused to give them a sign of the "anointing" of the Father, except that which they already had, that of the Prophet Jonah. This sign was a prophecy, as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so shall the Son of Man be. Seeking information from the Lord that will strengthen our faith in what ever way that is necessary for His plan and purpose for our lives, is promised us. But God will not tolerate or acknowledge the request of those seek to entrap or strengthen their disbelief. Matthew Henry describes Jonah's internment in the belly of the whale as being detained by the Lord until he decided to do the will of God. What was God's will for Jonah? He was to go and preach "repentance" to the people of the evil city of Nineveh. Here Christ compares the evil of the people of Israel with the evil of Nineveh. Jonah rose up after three days in the belly of the whale and preached to the people of Nineveh and they repented, Christ rose up after three days in the tomb but the people of Israel did not repent but were hardened in their unbelief.
Here Christ also compares Israel to Queen Sheba, here called Queen of the South. Sheba was a pagan but she would have condemned them for not repenting if she had had the opportunities that Israel had. Sheba came to Israel to see for herself the Wisdom of the man Solomon and found the Wisdom of God.
Finally Jesus compares the wicked generation of Israel to a man who repented and finding no rest, returned to his evil ways, the last state of that man being worse than the first. What is the intent of this statement in light of what we have just studied, for we must not take any scripture out of context. To do this, lets summarize what Jesus has said about the Jews up to this point. As a generation, they were resolved to continue under the power of Satan. They had at one time, repented but then returned to their wicked ways. Their present state was worse than their previous one.
In one of our previous lessons (Mark 9:25) Jesus cast out a devil from a man and then He commands the Devil never to return or enter the man again. Jesus had the power to do this but the Jews had never laid claim to this power of deliverance from Satan through Jesus Christ and some people, even some Christians, still do not do it. The Jews, for the most part, chose rather to resist and finally reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ., thus committing the "unpardonable sin". the rejection of the conviction of the Holy Spirit, "and the last state of which will be worse than the first."
This ends our study of "opinions about Jesus". We can see from it that there were many and different opinions about him, some growing out of watching, listening and understanding with an open mind and others out of a proud and hardened heart.
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